Austrian Grand Prix driver ratings

10 Jul 2017 11:18

8

By: Fergal Walsh

Valtteri Bottas: (qualified 1st, finished 1st)

What an imperious weekend from Valtteri Bottas. No doubt he was inspired by the knowledge of his teammate's grid penalty, but he qualified on pole fair and square ahead of Lewis Hamilton showing he was the quicker Mercedes driver on Saturday.

In the race he had the start of his life, so good in fact that Vettel and Ricciardo questioned its legitimacy, but it was in fact shown to be completely legal and instead just a perfect start. After the start Bottas was rarely seen or troubled again, such was his dominance.

The only problem he encountered was his compatriot Kimi Raikkonen trying to slow him down, and this was dealt with impressively quickly. He did seem to let Vettel in with a chance towards the end with his tyres blistering, but otherwise a near perfect weekend for the Finn.

Rating 9.5/10

Sebastian Vettel: (qualified 2nd, finished 2nd)

It was business as usual for Vettel in Austria as the Baku controversy died down, and he took a front row slot in qualifying - missing out on pole to Valtteri Bottas but crucially getting ahead of title rival Lewis Hamilton, who would start eighth thanks to a five-place gearbox penalty.

He hoped to maintain this advantage on Sunday, and was able to do so as he slotted comfortably into second behind Bottas. He would challenge the Finn all afternoon, and whilst the gap between them initially fluctuated (at one point growing to over 7.5 seconds), Vettel was right on Bottas' gearbox in the final laps in scenes reminiscent of those in Russia.

Much like that race, he was unable to pass the Mercedes and had to settle for second, but a solid finish ahead of Hamilton extends his valuable advantage in the championship as the teams look to Silverstone.

Rating: 9/10

Daniel Ricciardo: (qualified 5th, finished 3rd)

Fresh from his first 2017 win, Ricciardo turned up in Austria on high spirits and would leave in much the same way. The Australian showed pace leading up to qualifying but could not match the speed of Mercedes and Ferrari at Red Bull's home event.

For the start of the race, he moved up to fourth on the grid due to Lewis Hamilton's penalty. He got off the line well and past Kimi Raikkonen to have a rather quiet middle part of the race. Hamilton got close to him towards the end but was not close enough to pass the Aussie who claimed his fifth podium in a row.

Rating: 9/10

Lewis Hamilton: (qualified 8th, finished 4th)

It was always going to be a tough weekend for Hamilton once the gearbox penalty was applied. His weekend was then made no easier by the fact he failed to qualify on pole position in a somewhat scruffy qualifying session, reminiscent of his 2014 efforts around this track, but obviously not helped by yellow flags on his final run.

The race went about as well as could be expected for Hamilton, he quickly dispatched of Grosjean and Perez in the opening laps, then managed to pass Raikkonen during the pit stop phase. He then spent the second stint catching and then behind Daniel Ricciardo but couldn't manage to make a pass where on a better day for him it may have been possible.

Rating 7/10

Kimi Raikkonen: (qualified 3rd, finished 5th)

The Iceman ended qualifying in Spielberg with a fortunate third on the grid as Hamilton dropped five places, but he was nevertheless behind team-mate Vettel and things would not get any better in the race. He was only able to retain his grid position as far as Turn 2 on the first lap, as he ran wide and dropped to fifth.

He then had a charging Hamilton to deal with, and the gap between them was quickly reduced by the Briton, but Raikkonen was only saved from losing his position when the Mercedes began to struggle on its tyres. As the race went on and pit stops were made around him, he ascended to the lead, but lost a shot at the podium when he emerged from his own stop and his race fell flat from there - despite setting a new race lap record. He cruised home in an unspectacular fifth.

Rating: 6.5/10

Romain Grosjean: (qualified 7th, finished 6th)

The Frenchman has been getting a bit of stick lately for his consistent complaints and apparent unhappiness. However, Austria did not tell the story of Grosjean's season so far, with the 31-year-old claiming Haas' best result of the season.

He put his Haas in Q3 for the first time in since Monaco to qualify seventh but started sixth due to Hamilton’s penalty. He got away cleanly off the start line and kept his nose clean but could not match the pace of those ahead or hold Hamilton off in his Mercedes. The Frenchman kept a nice gap to the Force India of Sergio Perez to comfortably claim sixth position and score a fantastic result for the American team.

Rating: 9/10

Sergio Perez: (qualified 8th, finished 7th)

Coming to Austria, Perez was very much looking for a trouble free weekend after two controversial incidents in Canada and Azerbaijan with teammate Esteban Ocon. On Friday, it appeared that Force India would struggle around the short Spielberg circuit.

However, in qualifying the team's true form showed up and Perez managed to once again get the better of his teammate and set the eighth fastest time. Despite being outpaced by a Haas, Perez was consistent all race and secured a trouble free weekend after a turbulent couple of races.

Rating: 7.5/10

Esteban Ocon: (qualified 9th, finished 8th)

Much like teammate Perez, Ocon headed to the Red Bull Ring in the hope of not running into any trouble. After missing out on two potential podiums in the last two races, Ocon was determined to show his team what he can do.

The 22-year-old may begin to start to feel some pressure from himself, as for the eighth time this season, he was outpaced in qualifying by Perez. No doubting that the Frenchman is a quick driver, he soon may want to start getting on top of Perez to ignite even more confidence.

His race was also consistent with a simple strategy and a clean drive landing him another handful of points in the championship. Despite the gap in qualifying performances, Ocon is only 11 points behind Perez in the driver standings, reflecting the fair job he's been doing this year in the races - something that he showed again in Austria.

Rating: 7/10

Felipe Massa: (qualified 17th, finished 9th)

Like Stroll, Massa seized the chance to progress during the race from seventeenth on the grid, and would run comfortably ahead of his protégé and teammate throughout the 71 laps. He kept those ahead of him on their toes too - particularly Force India's Esteban Ocon, whose lap times were quickly being matched by the Williams in the early part of the race.

Massa also moved up several places as a result of pit stops ahead, but upon making his own stop dropped back to ninth having failed to jump Ocon. He raced the Frenchman hard to the end thereafter, and although he was unable to pass - settling for ninth ahead of Stroll - Massa had again proved himself a quick and valuable member of the Williams squad. He may be a veteran, but there's still plenty of life in the old dog yet.

Rating: 7.5/10

Lance Stroll: (qualified 18th, finished 10th)

A dreadful lack of pace on Saturday saw the Williams pair lock out the penultimate row of the grid, and it looked as though they would be facing an uphill struggle on Sunday. Within a few laps, however, they had made up sixteen places between them, and Stroll - fresh from two consecutive points finishes in Canada and Azerbaijan - found himself in the top ten once again.

He was running just behind teammate Felipe Massa, and was close to the Brazilian at times, but ultimately struggled under pressure from Jolyon Palmer's Renault. He was only relieved of this pressure when Palmer dropped back himself, but despite these struggles made good use of the opportunity to move up the field and brought the FW40 home for another precious point.

Rating: 7/10

Jolyon Palmer: (qualified 16th, finished 11th)

A better qualifying than usual for Palmer saw him qualify a lot closer to his team mate, with only two tenths separating them in Q1, although Hulkenberg did pull out a much better lap in Q2 to go more towards the usual gap in qualifying.

The race itself will surely go down as a disappointment for Palmer, finishing 11th in a race where he should have scored his first points of a so far disappointing season. He seemed to have better pace than stroll ahead of him but couldn't make a move on the Williams spending the majority of the race staring at the Stroll’s gearbox. On a more positive note he did manage to finish ahead of his teammate for the first time this season, which is surely a sign of better things to come.

Rating 6/10

Stoffel Vandoorne: (qualified 13th, finished 12th)

Heading to Spielberg with a new engine update, Stoffel Vandoorne was looking for a good result in Austria after his teammate secured McLaren's first points of the season in Baku, especially with the Red Bull Ring being a circuit that suits McLaren's package more than more recent circuits.

In practice, Vandoorne was consistently on the pace, being faster than Alonso in two of the three practice sessions. The Belgian carried this pace into qualifying to get out of Q1 for only the second time this season to start in 13th place, just behind his teammate.

In the race, Vandoorne's pace was consistent and he was involved with a number of entertaining battles out on track. A drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags, however, cost Vandoorne any chance for contesting for points in Austria which marks his only mistake this weekend, albeit a major one.

Rating: 6.5/10

Nico Hulkenberg: (qualified 11th, finished 13th)

In qualifying Hulkenberg continued his streak of qualifying ahead of his teammate, joining Fernando Alonso as the only drivers to out qualify their team mate at every race this season. However the gap was slightly reduced compared to previous races, perhaps owing to the short nature of the Austrian track.

The race itself was pretty much over in terms of a points scoring position before turn one, sending his car into anti-stall meant that he was pretty much last after the start. An early stop for softs was a gamble that didn't lead to much in the race, as he trailed home behind his teammate for the first time when both have finished the race.

Rating 6/10

Pascal Wehrlein: (qualified 20th, finished 14th)

A weekend to forget at Sauber. Wehrlein was unusually off the pace in qualifying, failing to get the better of teammate Ericsson. The German reportedly had issues with his turbocharger on Saturday, which perhaps explained some of the story. Starting from the pitlane, Wehrlein avoided the early fiasco and went on to beat his teammate. Nevertheless a disappointing weekend after getting inside the top 10 in Azerbaijan.

Rating: 5/10

Marcus Ericsson: (qualified 19th, finished 15th)

Something went desperately wrong in Austria for the Swiss team as from the get-go on Friday, both drivers were heavily off the pace. Ericsson did well in some respect to out-do his teammate in qualifying, who admittedly had some turbocharger issues. However, with not much pace in the race and finishing two laps down, Ericsson will swiftly set his sights on Silverstone.

Rating: 4.5/10

Daniil Kvyat: (qualified 14th, finished 16th)

After retiring from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, heading to Austria, it is without doubt that Daniil Kvyat was looking to secure a strong result for Toro Rosso having had an underwhelming start to 2017 with only 4 points in the Drivers' Championship.

Going into qualifying, Kvyat was looking strong after being faster than Carlos Sainz Jr in all three practice sessions. Despite showing some pace in practice, qualifying for the young Russian was poor, only managing 14th on the grid while Sainz qualified inside the top ten.

In the race, Kvyat struggled, causing a collision in the first corner that emulated his accident at the Russian Grand Prix in 2016. In this accident not only did Kvyat ruin his race, but also Fernando Alonso's and Max Vertsappen's. A later drive through penalty meant that Kvyat finished 3 laps down and in last place of the classified finishers.

Rating: 4/10

Kevin Magnussen: (qualified 15th, retired)

The Dane set a good time in Q1 to go through to Q2 but a suspension failure stopped him from taking part in Q2 and attempt to outqualify Grosjean. Magnussen put up a good fight with other cars and got in the mix until his car lost drive and he slowed and limped back to the pits to retire.

Rating: 7.5/10

Carlos Sainz: (qualified 10th, retired)

Securing a points finish in Baku, Carlos Sainz Jr was looking for another strong finish this weekend in Austria, especially with the race being the home of Red Bull - Toro Rosso's main sponsor and affiliation.

In practice, Sainz was slower than Kvyat in all three sessions, however, when lap times mattered, the Spaniard delivered, out qualifying Daniil Kvyat and putting his Toro Rosso inside the top ten.

Lining up on the fifth row of the grid, Sainz had a poor start and dropped through the field, however, managed to avoid the first lap accident in front of him to run inside the top ten. Technical issues then caused Sainz to lose pace and slip down the field to retire on lap 44, bringing about an end for a difficult weekend for Sainz in Spielberg.

Rating: 6.5/10

Fernando Alonso: (qualified 12th, retired)

Heading to Austria with a new engine update from Honda, Fernando Alonso was optimistic for a good result coming from a points finish in Baku - a circuit that does not suit the McLaren due to its reliance on power while the Red Bull Ring better suited the MCL-32.

In practice, Alonso showed consistent pace, despite having occasional off track excursions and only being faster than Stoffel Vandoorne in one of the three sessions. For qualifying however, Alonso got through to Q2 and led a McLaren 12-13 on the grid, out qualifying Vandoorne for the eighth time this season.

Alonso's race start was strong, gaining multiple positions off the line leaving him in tenth place. In the first corner however, the Spaniard's race ended when Daniil Kvyat ran into the back of him, causing terminal damage to the car and forcing him to retire.

Rating: 7/10

Max Verstappen: (qualified 6th, retired)

Max was unable to beat his teammate in qualifying, just a tenth off Ricciardo. He had a bad start as his car went into anti-stall and dropped him down and was unfortunately caught in an incident with Daniil Kvyat and Fernando Alonso and had to retire the car from the race for the third time in as many races.

Rating: 6.5/10

Replies (8)

Verstappen 6.5/10 ? How comes a mechanical failure leads to such a modest rating?
Indeed Ricciardo was only a tenth faster in qualifying and were it not for yellow during his last lap, he might have outqualified Ricciardo again!

I agree with many of them. I'd probably rank Ricciardo higher, due to the fact that he managed to keep a Mercedes behind him. I have a hard time ranking drivers who has retired, especially if they retired before the race even started, but thats me.